US Virgin Islands Diving Recommendations

[CharlieDontDive]

Heading to USVI for the first time in January, looking for some advice on:

• Water temp + recommended wetsuit
• Best dive sites (especially wrecks) in/near Trunk Bay, Cinnamon Bay, and Watermelon Key
• Any other general advice, whether dive-related or not.

We are renting a boat which we will be sailing around ourselves, giving us some flexibility about what dive sites & islands to visit.

Thanks in advance! Cheers.

 

[FettSolo]

I've been diving in St. John for years and I only ever wear a rashguard and trunks (though on my last visit I wore a 1mm suit and that was nice to protect my lower legs). The water temperature is usually in the 80s. Winter might be a tad cooler, but not by much.

From Trunk Bay, I would head northwest out to Congo Cay, Carval Rock, Lovango Cay, Mingo Cay, and Grass Cay. All nice dive sites, albeit not wrecks.

If you can access BVI (I'm not sure how open they are due to Covid), the wreck of the Rhone is the most famous wreck dive in the Virgin islands. St. Croix has some nice wrecks in Butler Bay, though that also might be a little far for your liking. St. Thomas has wrecks, but I haven't dove any of them.

I love St. John, but honestly the snorkeling is just as good as the diving. Most dive sites are shallow anyhow, so you're not really accessing that much more than you would on snorkel. Snorkeling there has led me to eagle rays, dolphins, great barracuda, sharks, squid, stingrays, turtles, and lots of other sea life.

 

[KathyV]

St Croix is generally considered to offer the best diving in the USVI and St John is said to have the best beaches and snorkeling. St. Thomas is supposed to have the most tourist attractions.

I’ve only visited St Croix so I can’t speak about the other two islands from personal experience, but the St. Croix diving is very good. You can dive reefs, wrecks, a wall, and a pier. There’s lots of sea life and sharks are most frequently encountered on the north side on Cane Bay Wall.

We recently returned from Saint Croix and we dived on 4 wrecks during 2 dives, on the west side of the island. The Frederiksted pier is an amazing dive and it is often done as a shore dive.

Saint Thomas is supposed to have the most restaurants, but I was surprised by the number of great restaurants around Christiansted on Saint Croix.

How much time will you have in the USVI? Perhaps you could visit all 3 islands and report back to us about what you find; have fun!

 

[drrich2]

I don't know the typical, but Jan. 2014 on a cruise ship stop in St. Croix, I believe the water temp. low was around 76 degrees. That's cool enough to be chilly. Depending on how cold sensitive you are, a 3 or 5 mm full wetsuit, or (for some of us naturally insulated folks) shorty should be fine.

Richard.

 

[KathyV]

I don't know the typical, but Jan. 2014 on a cruise ship stop in St. Croix, I believe the water temp. low was around 76 degrees. That's cool enough to be chilly. Depending on how cold sensitive you are, a 3 or 5 mm full wetsuit, or (for some of us naturally insulated folks) shorty should be fine.

Richard.

Good to know, the water temp was 84 and 85 F when we were on St Croix in late October and early November, but it is likely to get colder as you head into the winter season.

 

[Scoooter961]

St Croix is generally considered to offer the best diving in the USVI and St John is said to have the best beaches and snorkeling. St. Thomas is supposed to have the most tourist attractions.

I’ve only visited St Croix so I can’t speak about the other two islands from personal experience, but the St. Croix diving is very good. You can dive reefs, wrecks, a wall, and a pier. There’s lots of sea life and sharks are most frequently encountered on the north side on Cane Bay Wall.

We recently returned from Saint Croix and we dived on 4 wrecks during 2 dives, on the west side of the island. The Frederiksted pier is an amazing dive and it is often done as a shore dive.

Saint Thomas is supposed to have the most restaurants, but I was surprised by the number of great restaurants around Christiansted on Saint Croix.

How much time will you have in the USVI? Perhaps you could visit all 3 islands and report back to us about what you find; have fun!

@KathyV, where did you stay in St Croix and who did you dive with? We are looking at possibly going there in March if GC is still closed.

 

[KathyV]

@KathyV, where did you stay in St Croix and who did you dive with? We are looking at possibly going there in March if GC is still closed.

My apologies, I have a trip report half-completed but I haven't finished it yet.

We had a great trip to St. Croix and we were lucky because we had beautiful weather during the 2 weeks that we were there during late Oct and early Nov.

We stayed at a place called Club St. Croix Beach & Tennis Resort on Sugar Beach near Christiansted. It was very nice but it's not a hotel-type resort; it is actually a complex of privately owned condominiums that are managed onsite and available for rent when the owners are absent.

It was a lovely beachfront property and our condo had recently been remodeled and was well-maintained. That area of Sugar Beach is locally known as "condo row" because there are 3 or 4 large condo properties all along the beach. The only problem was that the neighborhood surrounding "condo row" was rather sketchy. We never had any problems or issues but we may look for another location when we return to St. Croix.

Keep in mind that the prices I'm citing are for 2 people for 2 weeks: our 1-bedroom beachfront condo for 2 weeks, including roundtrip airfare for 2 from Chicago, trip insurance and sales tax was around $4300.

A compact car rental from Budget for 2 weeks was $500. You will need a car on STX so be sure to reserve one in advance, there seemed to be a shortage. They drive on the left in the USVI. The gas was $2.69 US per gallon.

One of the nicest surprises about St. Croix is that there are a lot of very good restaurants around Christiansted, we really enjoyed exploring and dining at several of them.

There are several dive ops with good reputations on STX. We dived with St. Croix Ultimate Bluewater Adventures (SCUBA) and we were very pleased. They are a true valet dive op and they have shops in both Christiansted and Fredricksted (the Fredricksted shop is across the street from the pier.)

SCUBA has boats assigned to each side of the island. You can just let them know which side you'd like to dive the next day and they will transfer your gear for you and have it clean, dry, set-up and waiting for you on the boat; but if you prefer not to take advantage of their valet service, I'm sure that's okay, too.

We had terrific boat captains and divemasters and all of the staff were very nice and responsive. We were very pleased with the diving but unfortunately they had high winds on the north side so we didn't dive Cane Bay Wall. We only did one dive on the north side and it was rough, so we spent the rest of the trip diving the west side - but it was as calm as a lake. We saw lots of large critters including sharks and great small stuff, too. The reefs were lovely, and diving the Fredricksted Pier is spectacular.

Below is information about the dive costs at SCUBA. The shore dives are extra. I think they were US $10 or $13 per tank with an extra charge ($10?) for weights, but I don't remember for sure.

St. Croix Ultimate Bluewater Adventures
“The Friendliest Dive Shop on Earth”
877.567.1367 Toll Free
340.773.5994 Local

www.stcroixscuba.com

Two-tank boat dives are $130
One-tank night dives are $99
With the purchase of a 5 day dive package you will get a free two-tank afternoon dive or one-tank night dive.

Nitrox is available at $15 per tank.
All essential dive gear is included with any of our dives or dive training
There are premium upgrades available (dive computers, dive lights, underwater cameras, etc).
If you have your own gear we’ll gladly rinse and store it for you and have it set up and ready for each day’s diving

 

[divesergeant]

SCUBA is a great outfit. We dived with them in October 2019. Mrs DS made her 500th dive on that trip. I secretly conspired with the captain and he brought out a chilled bottle of wine to celebrate and a small gift with “500” on it to commemorate it. (And no, the boat staff did not partake in the wine)

We also stayed near Christiansted at Schooner Bay Condominiums and enjoyed the variety of restaurants. Duggan’s Reef and The Mill were favorites.

How was the traffic near your condo? We stayed in a condo near the port, but drove out your way and the traffic was really bad.

 

[KathyV]

SCUBA is a great outfit. We dived with them in October 2019. Mrs DS made her 500th dive on that trip. I secretly conspired with the captain and he brought out a chilled bottle of wine to celebrate and a small gift with “500” on it to commemorate it. (And no, the boat staff did not partake in the wine)

We also stayed near Christiansted at Schooner Bay Condominiums and enjoyed the variety of restaurants. Duggan’s Reef and The Mill were favorites.

How was the traffic near your condo? We stayed in a condo near the port, but drove out your way and the traffic was really bad.

Did you mostly dive the north side or the west? Thanks!

Traffic wasn't bad at all, but there's a pandemic on so business is down - maybe that's the reason? They were doing some construction near the airport and sometimes it got bad in that area.

 

[Scoooter961]

Do you all by chance know how the diving is at the end of March?